International Relations in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Introduction: 'Fixing' the Climate Crisis?e ever-rising concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere and the seeming reluctance or inability to effectively address drivers of emissions has led some to search for new technological interventions to deal with global warming.Known collectively as 'geoengineering' or 'climate engineering', such methods are usually defined as large-scale intentional inventions in Earth systems for climate purposes (Shepherd 2009).Some are designed to artificially cool the planet by reducing incoming sunlight, for example by injecting sulphur in the lower stratosphere, while others seek to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them, either via intervening in ecosystems or directly through human-built machinery.All are interventions conceived to act after excess emissions have accumulated into the atmosphere, rather than tools to prevent or adapt to such emissions.As such, optimists see in them a possible escape from the quagmire of global climate politics, even if all are still at the early stages of research and development.Sunlight-reducing

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